An exploration of the villain. It's a terrible summary, but I don't want to give anything away. Read and review, thanks! Contructive criticism is much loved, flames will be burned. Chapter Seven up. Please read and review. Abandoned. For now, anyway.

Alianor slapped him lightly and
protested, "Bellamy, will you at least give her the benefit of the
doubt? She's offering us a home, Bellamy. A home!" She
looked up at her husband, trying to make him see reason. What use was
there in trying to argue that Isabella was evil? There had to be
something else there. She was offering them mercy!

Bellamy shot back, "Damn it, Alianor!
Why defend her? Without her, we wouldn't be in such dire need of a
home! And you saw what she did to that other man. Why should we think
she won't do the same to us?"

"Listen to yourself! She's taken us
in as an act of mercy. At least pretend to be grateful! If she
wanted to hurt us, she would have already. Did you ever think of
that?" At that point Bellamy decided to just give up. There would
be no arguing with Alianor. She hissed, "All she wants in return
for her kindness is gratitude. Do you think you can manage that?"
Bellamy nodded, mostly to appease his wife, who chided, "And you
could have been a bit less eager to put an end to the conversation."

Sitting down, he huffed, "Because,
all of a sudden, she's an Angel of Mercy! Are you so quick to
forget that she's the reason everyone's struggling in the first
place?"

Alianor sat beside him and asked
gently, "How do you know? How can you be certain that there wasn't
someone before her who did all this? She was in power for so long
that no one really knows what happened before hand." She put an arm
around Bellamy in an effort to soothe him and understand why he was
so reluctant to simply accept their good fortune and be grateful for
it.

He growled, "Well, even if she didn't
cause it she could have fixed it. And she's always been cruel,
Alianor. Always. Is she not infamous for her harsh punishments? Or
for enslaving humans? Can you even begin to imagine how many she's
killed?"

"Bellamy, just forget about it.
Forget about all of it. It doesn't matter. All that matters is
that, for whatever reason, she's decided to show mercy now. She's
given us more than we could ever have wanted and she's offered to
let us stay with her for as long as we like. Fortune is smiling on
us, Bellamy. Let's not argue with it or question it."

Grudgingly, Bellamy sighed, "Very
well."

With that matter out of the way, the
couple were quite surprised to realize that they had absolutely
nothing to do. They had a roof over their heads, a fire in the
hearth, and their stomachs were full. There was absolutely no work
that needed to be done. What a wonderful luxury it was, to be able to
sit and be idle. Leisure was, outside the fortress, only a dream.

Alianor let out a cry of delight,
sprawling out on the bed, her eyes half-closed. She would be content
to just lie there, perhaps dozing off every now and again, for hours.
How nice it was to be able to indulge in a few moments of relaxation,
especially when they were provided with so many pieces of nice, soft
furniture to enjoy.

Even Bellamy, despite his inclination
to distrust the situation, found it enjoyable. He stretched lazily,
leaning back and resting his feet on a large, leather hassock. The
combination of the comfortable chair and the warmth of the fire
lulled him into a lethargic complacency that was quite pleasant. He
muttered drowsily, "This is nice…"

Alianor's lips curled in a triumphant
smirk and she shot Bellamy her best "I told you so!" look. She
didn't care what people said. No one who was offering them such a
wonderfully easy way of life could be completely bad. Isabella
obviously had some goodness in her. Fortunately, it had
decided to manifest itself when Bellamy and Alianor had been near by
and in desperate need of help.

As Bellamy reveled in the absolutely
sinful comfort of the room, he couldn't help but be grateful that
Isabella had given them so much. Perhaps, to her, it wouldn't seem
like very much. After all, she had so many nice things that the
contents of that one room would hardly be missed. But, really, she
had given them the world. Perhaps he had been unreasonable…
Perhaps…

Yet, for some odd reason, Bellamy still
couldn't force himself to trust their benefactor. She had been kind
enough in the past day or so, but it didn't undo a lifetime of
evil. Right? And a day or so of happiness didn't make up for a
lifetime of misery. Or could it? Was it really possible for someone
to atone for causing so much suffering? And was it possible for a
victim to satiate himself on luxuries and make up for years of
wanting and lacking even the most basic necessities? Bellamy groaned,
finding such questions too deep and ponderous for him to bother with.
Besides, the answer didn't really matter. It wouldn't erase the
fact that he was inclined to be a bit leery of Isabella. Not even
Alianor's constant rebuttals could hope to change that.

Perhaps Alianor could be right. But
that remained to be seen. The only things that could possibly change
his mind were time and Isabella herself. Over time, she would have
to earn his trust just like everyone else.

3

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